In the book of Nehemiah, we have been looking, and I'll kind of refresh your memory just a little bit. What we see is in the first chapter of Nehemiah, here's the need in Jerusalem and how the walls have been torn down. And there's a need for the walls to be built. In the process, what he's dealt with, he has gone before the king, Artaxerxes, and Artaxerxes has given him permission to go, given him authority. He's dealt with conflict from without and enemies from without. Chapter 4 we've seen threats of harm and of violence thrown at him. There's conflict from within. You remember in chapter 4 there was the wealthy Jews. that were putting down the poor, the most common Jews, even selling their children into slavery. Let me tell you, Satan will attack when you're doing God's work. He is like a roaring lion, roaming about seeking whom he may devour. In chapter 6 is where we are at. And the Word of God tells us in verse 1, now it came to pass, when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arabian and the rest of our enemies heard that I had builted the wall and that there was no breach left therein, though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates. Now let's pause here for a moment. The enemies have heard of the progress of the work of God. they want to attack. Here, I want you to notice, if it was in our day and time, we would have CNN reporting. Sanballat and Gishom and Tobiah, they want to have a peace treaty down in the Valley of Ono with good old Nehemiah. The problem is Nehemiah He don't want nothing to do with it. In other words, Nehemiah is for war because he won't meet with Sanballat. Let me tell you, the media will throw you a line. Watch out! Here, in God's Word, what we see is Sanballat and Tobiah and Gishom. They want to meet in the plain of Ono. That name itself automatically gives it away. Don't go to Oh No. Oh No, if you got a sand ballot in your life, don't go to Oh No. Here they are talking that they've got peace plans, talks of a peace treaty. It seems like Nehemiah just wants the conflict, he don't want peace. What's going on here? in ministry, in the Lord's work, there will always be someone who speaks evil of you. They might speak flattering words to your face. They might sugarcoat it. And you might think, man, they seem to be the sweetest people in the world. But behind your back, you better watch out. Their tongues is like knives ready to cut and dice you left and right. That's the world we live in. Here, Nehemiah has discernment. And if there's something that we tragically need in our society, not just in leadership but in the pew, is spiritual discernment. Now, discernment is being able to tell that which is right and that which is wrong. Nehemiah had that. He was very full spiritual discernment. Because what may sound good, it might not be good. And what might sound bad, it might not be bad. We need discernment in our life. The Word of God tells us that even Satan himself appears as an angel of light. Let me tell you, there is much deception in our world today. Many people are deceived. There is the smooth tongue that will lead you down the path of death. We need discernment. In verse 2, I want you to notice the discernment of Nehemiah. It says that Sanballat and Gishem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. Now here is the discernment of Nehemiah. But they thought to do mischief unto him. He says, They're planning mischief against me. though no one told him, but he was able to discern the wickedness of Sanballat and Geshem and Tobiah. They were enemies of God. You remember Sanballat was a governor over there in Samaria. Geshem was at Arabian. None of them were ever at peace with Jews. And then there's Tobiah who was a servant and leader of the Ammonites. Never friendly with the Jews. but yet they appear to be to some Jews. How there is need for discernment in our day and time, you can read of different men of God who had spiritual discernment. You read about Joseph. Remember Joseph and how he was sold into slavery? And the whole time he never complained about where God had led him. He knew God was sovereign. He knew God was in control. He could have murmured like most of us would have murmured. He was in iron chains and shackles around his ankles and around his hands is what the book of Psalms tells us. And yet, through it all, Joseph said this to his brethren. Right at the end after his dad passed away, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. He had spiritual discernment. You remember Solomon. Solomon had the case of the woman with the baby, and you remember there was two women. They slept the same bed. They both had babies. One rolled over on one of their babies, and the baby died. And so both women claimed the baby as their child. You remember the wisdom of Solomon? Bring me the child, give me a sword. We'll cut the baby in half and give each one half. The real mother, naturally, the mother's cry pleaded for the life of the child. Solomon, with his discernment, could see the mother's heart. Oh, that women in our day and time could see that the babe in their womb when they're pregnant is not their body, it's another body of a person. And how they ought to fight for that child's life instead of abortion. What a curse upon our society. There are women that argued before the Supreme Court just over the past week or two for the right to kill and stop the heartbeat of children There are doctors, so-called, that are harvesting baby parts that ought not even be thought of, let alone done. We live in a sick society. Here, Nehemiah has spiritual discretion. He can see the evil working in the hearts of Sanballat and Gishom. You remember what the Proverbs say over in Proverbs 27? Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. There are a lot of people who twist the word of God. They deceive many. Because they do not consider the whole counsel of God, they'll take a text out of its context and make it say something they want to fit their storyline. Here is why we preach and teach the Word of God line upon line, precept upon precept. We take one passage of Scripture after another passage of Scripture, keeping it in the context. How often so many people are led astray just because some take it and twist it out of context. We see that even in the Word of God. Some who took the Scripture out of context. Let me give you a premium example. Look over in Matthew 4. Automatically in Matthew 4, what you ought to think of is the temptation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. When he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was afterward a hungred. Physically, he was very weak. And that's when Satan came to him. The tempter came to him saying, if you be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. Our Lord answered, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Then the devil takes him up into the holy city, sets him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, if you be the son of God, cast yourself down, for it is written, he shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Satan took scripture, But boy, was he using it for his own purpose. Our Lord answered him and said, it is written, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil takes him up into an exceeding high mountain, shows him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them and says unto him, all these things will I give you if you will fall down and worship me. Then said Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. I want you to notice here, our Lord straightened Satan out. Satan twisted the scripture, but our Lord knew the whole counsel of God. Even so, we should be well-versed in the whole Word of God, the whole counsel of God, that we might be able to take a stand. Here we find the principle, Satan tempting with his appetite, with the pride, and with the ambition, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. Same thing we find over in Genesis 3 in verse 6, the same way. He deceived Eve and how Adam fell into sin. Same way we see repeated in the Word of God in 1 John 2 16. So how do we have this discernment? How can we have the discernment like Nehemiah? Nehemiah, he could see through and understand the wickedness at play. I do believe God gives discernment to his children. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all men liberally. Let me tell you, God will give. Our problem is we don't ask for discernment in a lot of situations and therefore we get caught in a lot of things we should not get caught in. Discernment comes through knowing the Word of God. You've got to get in the Word. I'm telling you, don't just bank on it on Sunday morning or Sunday night, Wednesday night. You need to get in the Word on your own. And you need to get the Word of God into you. It's like old Charles Spurgeon said, when you bleed, you bleed Bibline blood. In other words, the Bible just oozes from you. That's how we ought to be as God's children. We ought to know the Word of God. Here is part of how we have discernment. Another way we grow in discernment is through maturity as a Christian. As we grow as a child of God, we walk with the Lord. As we grow in the Word of God, spiritual maturity brings about discernment. I do believe it's a gift of God. God does gift us. But we can see the growth process too. How many of y'all have ever seen a little toddler, a little baby? who can barely stand up. If that baby is around something on the floor, what does that baby do if it can grab that something on the floor? Does it matter what it is? It could be the toilet brush and the baby stick the toilet brush in its mouth if you didn't watch that baby. You know what I'm talking about. That baby has no discernment at all. I've seen babies stick their toes in their mouth. You've seen that too. They have no discernment. It comes from growth and maturity. Sanballat here wants a peace treaty. That's all he wants. It sounds good, don't it? The Palestinians, all they want is a peace treaty. That's down through the years, that's all they said. And Israel's to blame for why they don't, and yet they're shelling them with bombs. But all Sanballat just wants is a peace treaty. Sounds good to the ears. The problem is there's more to the situation. What Nehemiah does, notice in verse 3, he says, and I sent messengers unto them, saying, I'm doing a great work so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease whilst I leave it and come down to you? Why should I stop working and doing God's work just to come down to the plain of Ono? In other words, you're just trying to distract me from God's work. If there's one thing Nehemiah had beside discernment, he had some focus. Let me tell you, in our day and time, it's easy to get out of focus, ain't it? Where's my phone? You know what I'm talking about. Boy, that phone'll get you out of focus. You'll go to get on your phone to look up somebody's number. By the time you get there, you're looking on some website or you're looking on something. Somebody's done texted you. You're going this way and you're going that way and then you forget who you're trying to call. We're so out of focus. Hey, guilty. Your preacher's fessing up. I'm so out of focus sometimes it's a shame. But let me tell you what Satan wants to do. He wants to distract you from the work of God. He wants to get you out of focus. And oh, all the distractions in our day and time. Sometimes we become part of the distractions. Let me tell you something. Here you can be part of Satan's work by criticizing others. Do you know what I'm talking about? Anybody ever been criticized? Put down by other people's words? You ever made your own minors? You got a major work to do. That's what Nehemiah is doing. Sandballot wants him to come over to this minor little peace treaty thing to get him off the work. If you in your life you stress feelings and emotions, over what the Word of God says, let me tell you something, you're getting out of focus. When we focus on the faults of others, we're getting out of focus on the Lord's work. When you're hypercritical and always criticizing somebody else and looking down on somebody else, you are not doing the work of the Lord. There's so much that can distract us in this life. To do the work of the Lord, let me tell you something, you need to be edifying one another. I need to be edifying you. We need to be strengthening one another in the Lord. We need to be encouraging. Not, did you see what so and so did? No, you don't need to be talking about others, you need to be talking with others. Or you need to be talking to the Lord about others, not with one another about others. Don't get out of focus in the work of the Lord. The enemy, sometimes what he does, he distracts you with what is good. Here's a good thing. It might be a good thing, but it's not the best thing. You know what I'm talking about? God's got to work for Nehemiah. He's building that wall. His focus is on that wall. Here's a good thing. Here's peace. We got to work for peace. It might be a good thing sound like, but it ain't the best thing. Satan desires to distract us from the work of the Lord. I want you to notice what the Word of God says. Yet they sinned unto me four times after this sort. Come meet with us in the plains of Ono. Come meet with us." And I answered them after the same manner each time, each time. He answered the same way each time. So what happens with Sanballat and Geshem? The Word of God says He started to slander him. He started to spread falsehoods about him, to try to weaken the hands in the work, trying to discourage the workers along with Nehemiah. The Word of God says in verse 5, Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me, in like manner the fifth time, with an open letter in his hand, wherein was written, It is reported among the heathen. You know what that is? Rumor. It's been rumored. Let me tell you something. Don't believe in a rumor. It says, "...and Gashmu saith it..." Well, he said it, so it must be true. "...that you and the Jews think to rebel, for which cause you build the wall, that you may be their king according to these words. And you hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There's a king in Judah, and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come now, therefore, and let us take counsel together." Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as you say, but thou faintest them out of your own heart." In other words, they're things you're dreaming up in your own heart and your own mind. Here are rumors that Sanballat's trying to spread. He even mentions somebody's name who's also mentioned the rumor. Let me tell you, I don't care how long and how much and how often you say a lie, a lie will never become a truth no matter how many times you say it. A lie is always a lie. And let me tell you something, there's a lot of lies in our world today. People are trying to push down Christians' throats. A lie will never become the truth. I don't care how often you repeat it. They say you repeat something often enough, people will believe it, and that's true. But that don't make it true. Truth is absolute. It doesn't change with the times. It doesn't change with cultures. It does not change because of people's opinions. They say that societies, cities, set their own standards of morals and values. Let me tell you something, some cities are damning themselves to hell because of their culture and values. And there are many people following without giving it any thought. A lie is always a lie. Think with me for a moment. we could go off into many different areas. Homosexuality, let me tell you, that's still a lie. Though doctors may have come out and changed their opinion on it, I don't care how often you change your opinion on it, God's Word says it's sin. The new things they come up with, transgenderism. In other words, people don't even know if they're a boy or a girl. Don't tell me that. That's a lie straight from the pits of hell. And it's damning people to hell. You might say, you're intolerant. No, I'm not intolerant. I am intolerant of sin. I don't tolerate sin. Here's why some places have condemned the Word of God is because God's Word speaks against their lifestyle and they call it hate speech. Let me tell you something. God hates sin. He hates sin so much that He sent His Son to die upon the cross for our sin. And if we ain't got the backbone to stand up against sin and what is wrong, shut the doors, go home, hang your Christianity up. Let me tell you, we've got to take a stand or you can see the way things are going. LGBT and QRLMNOP is rolling all over Christianity. It's a falsehood. And look at how it's becoming more and more populous around the world. Why is that? Because Christians are too scared to say something. I'm telling you, we don't speak the truth with hate. We speak the truth in love. We share the truth of God's Word because we love people. And we know that lies send people to hell. And we've got to be honest with people. We've got to take a stand. You're going to be mocked at. You'll be cursed. I'm going to tell you. You take a stand against these things, people will hate you. Was our Lord not hated? They hated the Master. Will they not hate His servants? Nehemiah was accused of things. that he opposed. He didn't want to be the king. Yeah, that's the rumor. He wasn't trying to build up himself. He was actually given of his own goods to help people out. And yet the very thing that he was working against, he was accused of. Sounds like politics in our day and time. Notice his response. Here's the discernment once again of Nehemiah. In verse 8 he says, Listen closely. Fear is mainly what you choose. You listen to the news. If you choose to let the news dictate to you how you should live your life, the government how you should live your life, you're going to live a life of fear. You've got to live your life according to the Word of God. You've got to take a stand. Here is Nehemiah's discernment. He knows Fear often makes you do what you should not do. And fear often will make you do what you should not do. I get that backwards, you know what I'm saying. Fear will make you do the wrong thing. Let me just put it flat. Don't fear, don't let others control you. Be controlled by the Spirit of God and the Word of God. Follow the leading of God's Word. You cannot control other people's speech. They're going to keep talking, but you can control your actions. How you respond, follow the Word of God, Nehemiah, with his discernment. In verse 9, what he says in the latter part of that verse, he says, Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands. He needed strength to continue in the work of the Lord. We need strength from the Lord to continue His work. We need to be strong and of good courage. That's His prayer. I want you to notice in verse 10, down through verse 14, they change tactics. And what they do, they use religion. to try to get them to stop doing the work of the Lord, to get their own way, to fit their own storyline. In verse 14, the Word of God says, We'll read down in verse 10 through 14. Afterward I came into the house of Shemaiah the son of Deliah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut up. And he said, Let us meet together in the house of God within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple, for they will come to slay you. Yea, in the night will they come to slay you. And I said, Should such a man as I flee? And who is there that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in. You need to be quarantined. You need to stay in your basement. You shouldn't gather together as a church body. You shouldn't gather together as an assembly. Y'all spread germs. You can't sing. It travels by air. You can't do this. You can't do that. Boy, doesn't that sound familiar? Is God's Word contemporary? Lo, I perceived that God had not sent him, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me, for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. Therefore was he hired. Here's his discernment again, that I should be afraid, and do so in sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me. My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these works, and on the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets that would have put me in fear. What's the storyline today? Well, it's the right thing to do. You need to do the right thing. You need to show love toward your neighbor. You need to do this. You need to do that. You know who's telling you to do that? Let me tell you, it's a bunch of lost people. It's a bunch of people that are not in the Word of God. Let me tell you, our governor, I don't know his heart, but I got some discernment. He's not a man of God. says he's a deacon in a church. I don't care if he's the deacon, deaconess, pastor, whatever he is. Let me tell you something, he is not a man of God. He is not in the Word of God. How often have you heard him preach God's Word? How often have you heard him quote scripture? Right at the beginning, let me tell you, right at the beginning of his administration, he took a photograph with transvestites and transgenders. Let me tell you, you'll know them by who they hang out with. Don't you let ungodly people dictate to you what you should be doing. It's the right thing to do. Do it. Show you love your neighbor. Heard that line. Hired prophets, that's what they are. Here's the hired prophet. Sandballot has got the religious people to subtly try to pull Nehemiah in and hide out in the temple. Let me tell you, Nehemiah had no business going in the temple to begin with and he knew it. He'd probably get struck dead if he went in. He had discernment where he saw through and that God had not sent him. He perceived that and he knew he was hired. So notice what God's Word says. He prays. Nehemiah is a man of prayer. Let me tell you, they're not long, lengthy prayers, but they're just shortened to the point. He says, My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat, according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets, that they would have put me in fear. He brings his cause to the Lord. I want you to notice here, he does not argue with the priest or with anyone in the religious realm there that's trying to pull him in. He does not debate with them. He does not try to convince them of Sanballat and Tobiah being evil. He simply takes his case to the Lord, presents it before the Lord. The Lord, the righteous judge, will judge righteously. So I want you to notice as we come down toward the latter part of this chapter, in verse 15 the Word of God says, So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month, Elul, in fifty and two days. Did you get it? This wall, this massive wall around the city, they built in 52 days. It had been destroyed, demolished, rubble for over a hundred years. 52 days it's built. That's a work of God. God was in it. And let me tell you, because God was in it, Notice how the enemies responded. In verse 16, it came to pass that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes, for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God. In other words, the enemies were discouraged and God was exalted. What we desire to see in New Life Baptist Church is God exalted doing God-size work. Let me tell you, if it's work done in the flesh and if it's work done by you and me, nobody's going to really notice it. But when it's done by God, people are going to stand amazed. Here, God is doing a great thing. As this chapter comes to a close in verse 17 and 19, through 17 and 19, those verses, we see that the enemy had infiltrated inside Jerusalem. The Word of God tells us that Tobiah had many noble Jewish friends. It says, Moreover, in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them. For there were many in Judah sworn unto him, because he was the son-in-law of Shechaniah, the son of Arah, and the son of Jehanan, had taken the daughter of Meshulam, the son of Berechiah. In other words, there was marriage connections, there was monetary connections. They thought Tobiah was a pretty good dude. Notice it says in verse 19, And also they reported the good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him. Everything they heard concerning Nehemiah they told Tobiah. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear. Now, how does Nehemiah handle this situation? What does Nehemiah do when he hears they've compromised? They've been infiltrated by the enemy. What does Nehemiah do? They're boasting of how good Tobiah is. Let me tell you something. Nehemiah does not say one word defending himself nor putting Tobiah down." Do you see that in the text? No, you don't see that in the text because it's not in the text. You know why? Because, very simply, he presents his case to God. God is on the throne and God's in control. He knows any argument he might have with these nobles, it will get nowhere. Therefore, he doesn't defend his position or argue the cause. Now I want you to look at where we've come from to where we're at in the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah starts out in chapter 1. He is nothing but an exile Jew under a Persian king. He is a slave. He is a cup-bearer. You know what a cup-bearer is? Remember what a cup-bearer is? He tastes the drink or eats the food before the king does, so in case somebody poisoned him, the cup-bearer's gone. In other words, I'll just get another cup-bearer. Cup-bearers are replaceable. Can God use somebody that is nothing but a servant? cupbearer? Can God use someone who to the king's life is expendable? As we see this story progress, God used this servant in a powerful way. Now let me ask you, can God use you? Can God use you? You know what? You're not a servant. As far as of this world, you're not a slave. You're not a cupbearer. You don't have to taste anybody's food, see if it's got poison in it. At least I hope you don't. I don't know anybody who volunteered for that job. You know what? God can use you and me just like He used Nehemiah. He's the same God, still works in the same way. What we see here in our text. Nehemiah heard of a need. There's a problem in Jerusalem. They do not have a walled city no more. That means the enemies can come in, steal and kill and do whatever they want. Some people just see the problem or the need. Some people just hear about the problem or the need. Some just wish the problem or the need would go away. Some people just think about it. Some people criticize. Can't believe they ain't built that wall yet. But some people take action and surrender their life to the Lord and say, Lord, whatever it is you'd have me to do, I will do. Some people want certain things in life. Let me encourage you to surrender your life to the Lord for whatever He has for you to do. And as you see a need, it's your job to fill that need. Pray the Lord will use you, not as being a part of the need or part of the problem, but as a solution to help resolve that need or that problem. Pray that God would use you for His glory. When it all comes down, Nehemiah was in a palace. Though he was a servant, though he was a cupbearer, you know what, he had a high life compared to what others did. Though he could have kicked a bucket and eaten poison at any time. But he was well off. He gave all that up because he saw a need. Those of us who are God's children, we proclaim his name. We say we are Christians. Have we surrendered our lives to whatever the need is, Lord, I'm willing. If you need me to go, I will go. If you need me to speak when nobody else is speaking up, I'll speak. Are you willing? Or would you wish somebody just take care of the problem? You know what, it's not about you. Oftentimes as we go through life, we think life revolves around this little bubble around me. You're out of focus. It's all about Him. It's all about the glory of Christ. The older you get, the more you realize Most people don't even know who you are. You know what, we need to make him famous. We need to make him known. We need to exalt him. The things of this world will pass away, along with you and I. He never changes. We've got a message of hope for our lost and dying world. Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners. And every one of us, if we're children of God, we can say like the Apostle Paul, I'm chief. We the chiefest, every one of us the chiefest of sinners. And yet, his grace saved us. If you don't know Christ as your Lord and Savior, surrender your life to him. I pray you surrender your life to him and I guarantee you he'll make something beautiful out of your life. God can do wondrous works. History shows that time and again. Look at Nehemiah's life. He could have spent the rest of his days serving the king as a cupbearer, and you know what? We would have never heard his name. I do believe in glory. What we're going to do is we're going to be worshiping, worshiping, and we're going to be around saints of God. who are going to talk about how God has worked wonders in their life and the greatness of our God. It's not going to be about us, but about what God has done. It's all about Him. Is your life surrendered to Him today? Let's stand and go to the Lord in prayer and we'll have a hymn of invitation and pray you respond as God is dealing with your hearts. Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the power of your spirit and for the testimony of the life of Nehemiah, a life that was surrendered, a life that was willing to take a stand. When there was no one to take the lead and take a stand for over 100 years, Lord, help us not to let life pass us by without proclaiming your name and your glory and your gospel, your goodness and your mercy, your marvelous matchless grace. Lord, help us to proclaim to a lost and dying world how Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. Lord, help us to share the truth in love, not looking down upon others, for but by the grace of God, there goes me. And we show and display the love of Christ through our lives. that others might come to a saving knowledge of Christ. To you be the honor and glory forever. Amen. Let us sing, trust and obey.